Pale Blue Dot
by dontmindmehomie
Summary: The Doctor remembers a meaningful conversation he had with Donna. Set after "Journey's End". Spoilers! oneshot.


Disclaimer: Blah blah, blah blah blah!  
Summary: The Doctor remembers a conversation he had with Donna, set after Journey's End. My first Who fic!  
Author's Note: This little plot bunny wouldn't leave my head. I've been trying to get to sleep for hours! It's almost 6AM and I haven't slept yet, so go easy on me. ;) Anyway, enjoy!

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x--x--x--x--x--x--x--x--x--x--x--x--x--x--x--x--x--x--x--x--x--x--x--x--x--x--x--x--x

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The Doctor closed the door of the TARDIS behind him and took of his wet coat. Not knowing where to go or what to do, he stood at the console, staring blankly at the walls of the console room, trying to process the events of the day. After a few hours, he decided upon the coordinates of his next destination and piloted the TARDIS accordingly.

He then opened the door of the TARDIS and stared into space.

"There it is... the pale blue dot."

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_flashback_

"Donna, could you come here a minute? I need you to hold something for me," the Doctor muttered, a bit incomprehensibly, with his sonic screwdriver in between his teeth while doing some routine maintenance on the TARDIS. The Doctor waited for a reply, expecting something along the lines of "Oi! Don't talk with your mouth full!" but none came. "Donna?" he called again. A bit worried now, he stood up, apologized to the TARDIS for the delay and started to look for Donna. Though, he didn't have to look far. She was standing at the doorway of TARDIS with the entrance wide open, staring at the beautiful scene before her with an expression on her face that he had never seen before. Concerned, he stood next to Donna and put his hand on her shoulder, asking "What's wrong?"

"Where exactly are we?" Donna asked, her expression unchanged.

"Right now," the Doctor said enthusiastically while darting toward the console to check, "Right now, we are about four billion miles away from Earth, a bit near Saturn actually." He returned to Donna's side and began gazing outside of the TARDIS himself. "It's beautiful isn't it? But why do you ask? What's wrong?"

"Did you pick this spot?"

"No, not really... I just set the TARDIS to drift somewhere in the Solar System while I started some regular maintenance on her. Really Donna, what is it?"

"Nothing. It's just... I don't know. I remember seeing this before... Is that Earth right there?" she said, pointing to a distant dot, barely visible.

The Doctor was taken aback.

"How did you know that?" he said, becoming more and more puzzled. "How did you know where it is from here? Can you even see it? It's just a pale..."

"...blue dot," Donna finished. "Just a pale blue dot. This same scene, this same picture... It's in a book I read with that title, 'Pale Blue Dot'--you've read it, haven't you?"

"No I don't... I don't think so,"

"What?! You're over 900 years old, and you have a bloody huge library in the TARDIS but you haven't read 'Pale Blue Dot'? You should be ashamed of yourself!"

"Oh come on, so I missed one book! There's no way I could read all the literature of the universe in--"

"Yeah yeah," Donna cut him off. "But anyway, I remember seeing that image and reading the book before I met you, and it didn't mean much to me at all. But then I read it again, and this one line stood out in my mind, ever since I met you..."

Confidently, Donna began reciting it from memory.

_"Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves."_

"Oh, but there is help!" the Doctor beamed, grinning ear to ear, but Donna frowned.

"Exactly. Do they really not know? Almost all of the humans on Earth--do they really not know that there's a Time Lord, a guardian angel keeping vigil as protector of the Earth, along with the rest of the universe through all of time and space..." she trailed off.

"Well, I don't think I'd call myself--" the Doctor started, again being interrupted by Donna.

"My grandpa always tells me that our guardian angels aren't shining winged creatures, but people you see everyday simply disguised as humans, doing heroic deeds every day. He's right."

"Tell him he's a very wise man," the Doctor said as he turned around and started toward the console.

"But Doctor..."

"Yes?" the Doctor answered, spinning on his heel while digging his hands in his coat pockets.

"Why me?"

"What do you mean 'Why you?'"

"Why me? A temp from Chiswick? Out of all the people on Earth, why do I get this opportunity to see the universe? I'm just..."

The Doctor walked toward Donna and put his hands on her shoulders.

"Donna," the Doctor sighed. "Oh Donna, you truly are brilliant! Remember what I told you about being able to feel time -- to feel _wha__t is, what was, what could be, what must not... _I also can feel that you, Donna Noble, have saved my life in so many ways, and also the lives of others."

"Oh you're just saying that--"

"Shh.. Donna, look at me," he whispered, "and tell me," looking at Donna intently, with his brown orbs penetrating her very being, "and tell me I'm not being sincere."

They held each other's gaze until Donna went ahead and embraced the Doctor tightly, and he answered with an embrace of equal amount of compassion.

"I'm so glad I found you again," Donna admitted, her voice shakey. "I can't imagine what my life would be like without you right now..."

"Me too, Donna, me too..."

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...but now he didn't have to imagine.

FIN

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Author's Note 2: For any of you wondering what the "Pale Blue Dot" book and image is, just go to these links.

sastun.files.wordpress. com /2007/02/palebluedot.jpg  
www.amazon. com /Pale-Blue-Dot-Carl-Sagan/dp/1578150000

Cheers!


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